Composing virtuoso pianists

South Korean pianist Yeol Eum Son is a great master of the classical repertoire. But she also likes surprising concert programmes – as recently as 2023, she made a deep impression at the Muziekgebouw with jazzy Ukrainian and Russian music. This time, she plays works by six composers who were all celebrated virtuoso pianists in their time. A recipe for pianistic fireworks, with Rachmaninoff’s epic Preludes Op. 32 serving as the grand finale.

From the swinging cycle Play Piano Play by Friedrich Gulda to the warm-blooded transcriptions that Earl Wild made of Disney’s Snow White, Yeol Eum Son lets her audience go from one surprise to the next. Did you know that among the treasures left behind by the great Alicia de Larrocha is a delightful Sonata Antigua? And that fin-de-siècle star Ignacy Jan Paderewski was the president of Poland in 1919? Yeol Eum Son’s hyper-musical interpretations promise once again to deliver a concert experience that is both exhilarating and unforgettable.